Escape reflex

Not to be confused with Escape response.

Escape reflex, or escape behavior, is any kind of escape response found in an animal when it is presented with an unwanted stimulus.[1] It is a simple reflectory reaction in response to stimuli indicative of danger, that initiates an escape motion of an animal. The escape response has been found to be processed in the telencephalon.[2]

The above diagram is a simplified version showing that a cockroach will not venture towards a dangerous stimulus. Due to the escape reflex, the cockroach will take an alternative route once it has sensed the stimulus.[3]

Escape reflexes control the seemingly chaotic motion of a cockroach running out from under a foot when one tries to squash it.

As the stimulus on the left side enters the ear, the signal is processed and inhibits the muscles on the same side as the stimulus. Muscles on the opposite side remaining working, which allows the creature to quickly pull away from the stimulus if it is threatening. This depiction is a simplified version and does not contain all accurate structures involved.[4]

In higher animals, examples of escape reflex include the withdrawal reflex (e.g. the withdrawal of a hand) in response to a pain stimulus. Sensory receptors in the stimulated body part send signals to the spinal cord along a sensory neuron. Within the spine, a reflex arc switches the signals straight back to the muscles of the arm (effectors) via an intermediate neuron (interneuron) and then a motor neuron; the muscle contracts. There often is an opposite response of the opposite limb. Because this occurs automatically and independently in the spinal cord, the brain only becomes aware of the response after it has taken place.

  1. ^ "Escape behaviour". APA Dictionary of Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. n.d. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  2. ^ Schwarze S, Bleckmann H, Schluessel V (October 2013). "Avoidance conditioning in bamboo sharks (Chiloscyllium griseum and C. punctatum): behavioral and neuroanatomical aspects". Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural & Behavioral Physiology. 199 (10): 843–56. doi:10.1007/s00359-013-0847-1. PMID 23958858. S2CID 18977904.
  3. ^ Booth, D.; Marie, B.; Domenici, P.; Blagburn, J. M.; Bacon, J. P. (2009-06-03). "Transcriptional Control of Behavior: Engrailed Knock-Out Changes Cockroach Escape Trajectories". Journal of Neuroscience. 29 (22): 7181–7190. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1374-09.2009. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 2744400. PMID 19494140.
  4. ^ Catania, Kenneth C. (April 2011). "The brain and behavior of the tentacled snake". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1225 (1): 83–89. Bibcode:2011NYASA1225...83C. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.05959.x. ISSN 0077-8923. PMID 21534995. S2CID 33894394.